Weaving in a Rigid Heddle Loom

 In my life I have owned two floor looms-a 36” Harrisville  Designs loom given to me by my dear Aunt Freda and a Leclerc 8-harness floor loom which I was thinking was a 24” but looking online I don’t find them in 24”. I have given away both looms- one because I did not believe it would arrive safely in South Carolina and the other because I was not using it and it was too big for the space.

Still, I had a lot of cotton yarn to use up and my hands were beginning to object to knitting with that yarn. I began researching rigid heddle looms which are way smaller and much simpler to use. One day last summer one became available on Facebook so Dear One and I made the two hour trip to look at it and purchased it on the spot. It came with several nice accompaniments. It was VERY expensive for a used loom but…we bought it. It was a 16” Ashford. I love the Ashford spinning wheel we have so thought that was a good brand.

A few months ago a 32” Ashford became available for way less money. It also was two hours away. This time I went by myself and found that it was in great shape-only used once by the wife according to her husband who was selling it. It also had the old-style stand which had shelves on each

side—ideal for holding the shuttle between picks—in this case a boat shuttle which I love. 

In the past few weeks I have used the 16” and made 17 cloths (dish-, wash-, dust-) and am so pleased with them. Using up the yarn in such a fun way is very satisfying.

Today I am using the 32” loom for the first time. I warped it on Tuesday and wove and hem stitched the first cloth. I just now finished the second cloth and began the third and am forcing myself to move on to other things on To Do list for today.

You can see the fun hem stitches on cloth two. It is just about time to sew the hem stitches cloth three but I really won’t be able to tear myself away if I get started on them.  The day has been productive-starting with an early morning swim where I met a nice lady named Charlotte -so I don’t want to stop the forward momentum. There are nearly a dozen other items on that list…!